\magnification=1200 \hsize=4in \overfullrule=0pt \nopagenumbers \noindent % % {\bf Edward A. Bender, E. Rodney Canfield, L. Bruce Richmond and Herbert S. Wilf} % % \medskip \noindent % % {\bf A Discontinuity in the Distribution of Fixed Point Sums} % % \vskip 5mm \noindent % % % % The quantity $f(n,r)$, defined as the number of permutations of the set $[n]=\{1,2,\dots n\}$ whose fixed points sum to $r$, shows a sharp discontinuity in the neighborhood of $r=n$. We explain this discontinuity and study the possible existence of other discontinuities in $f(n,r)$ for permutations. We generalize our results to other families of structures that exhibit the same kind of discontinuities, by studying $f(n,r)$ when ``fixed points'' is replaced by ``components of size 1'' in a suitable graph of the structure. Among the objects considered are permutations, all functions and set partitions. \bye .